Northwest watch. People.

Wheelchair Player Knows He Can't Be Like Mike, But He's Still Giving It A Shot

June 22, 1993|By Carri Karuhn.

Like so many times before that day, Josh Fabian of Buffalo Grove showed up at Chicago Stadium four years ago, two hours before tip-off.

Tickets in hand, he rolled his wheelchair near the locker room and waited. Perhaps he would catch a glimpse of the player in his red jersey or hear the distant dribble of a basketball launched from the hands of the man he idolized.

When the tall, dark figure loomed unexpectedly from the stairwell in street clothes, Fabian sat silent, his mouth open.

"Hi, I'm Michael Jordan," the man said, extending his hand.

"I was so excited," Fabian, now 20, recalled. "I couldn't speak, and no one believes me. It was probably one of the greatest thrills I've ever had."

Though he might not have known it at the time, Jordan had just met one of his biggest fans. Not only that, the star Bull also bumped into the kid who, in many ways, would one day seem to be following in his footsteps.

Fabian, a junior at the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana, is currently preparing to play guard for a team representing the United States in the World Wheelchair Sports Championship Aug. 2 through 8 in Stoke-Mandiville, England.

"Josh was an all-star performer in the college division," said Brad Hedrick, coach and assistant director of Rehabilitation Education Services at U. of I., who selected some of the players for the England games. "He had an outstanding year in Illinois this year."

Fabian was one of four college men chosen nationwide to compete in the championship games. The other eight men to represent the United States are from various community and international teams.

Wheelchair basketball, a paralympic sport for people with physical disabilities, follows the same rules established by the International Basketball Federation. It deviates from the "standup" version only to accommodate movements in wheelchairs.

The players, who plan to meet in St. Louis a week before the big games to practice, all suffer from some form of paralysis.

Fabian, who lost the use of his legs nine years ago, has played wheelchair basketball since 1987. Doctors believe a head cold that manifested into a rare virus and attacked Fabian's spinal cord is responsible for his disability.

Hospitalized for six months, Fabian was re-admitted two months later for colitis, an inflammation of the colon caused by stress. Doctors removed his entire large intestine to alleviate the pain.

"He's been through so much," said his mother, Vicki. "To say I'm proud of him doesn't do justice. He's come across so many obstacles, and he's done it all on his own."

Despite the surgery and his disability, Fabian was eager to get involved with sports again. He joined a wheelchair basketball team at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and later played for the Chicago Wheelchair Bulls.

Four years later, he started classes at U. of I., one of the few universities in the country to recognize wheelchair basketball as a varsity sport. The Fighting Illini finished second in the collegiate and 16th in the national division.

Fabian attributes much of his success to the inspiration of his basketball hero. He said Jordan has taught him that anything can be accomplished with hard work and dedication. Meanwhile, he never misses a Bulls game. And he has a video library of Bulls games he seems determined to wear out.

"I just get to watch him do things that I won't see him do again in a lifetime," he said. "It's something I can't do, and I think it's something I appreciate more."

Fabian hopes to one day coach collegiate or professional standup basketball. And like Jordan, Fabian hopes someday to qualify for the Olympics, though wheelchair basketball is not yet included in the games.